Hi Caitie and Dimpz - thanks for your greeting and of course glad to be home...we all know the feeling.

My tidbits are really off topic here, but for those who need info on Scandi I'll stay here and for all others, hope it's not too much of an inconvenience.

The trip met all expectations and we had a typical racanteur Brit TD (who lives in Poland no less) which made it even more salted with humor and mysteries...you know how they can talk in puzzles sometimes?!

42 on board 6 Canadians, 1 Aussie recent Widow 70 from Melbourne and the rest USA. A socially civilized group - one misfit solo lady (no not me ) who ultimately just did her own thing at meals and other times...no not the Aussie lady either .

Brand new bus, seats had a net bag for your "stuff" and tray tables - nice. Cubbies up top typical and fit the free bag which I wound up using for the first time as it had a long shoulder strap so I could easily access camera equipment without any difficulty.

Breakfast buffets were fabulous with everything from herring, sardines, cheeses and 3 kinds of eggs...scrambled (not runny - a miracle in itself) soft boiled and hard boiled. You name it, they had it...even the mini hotdogs and baked beans.

All included dinners were also buffet, again with amazing choices including Swedish meatballs Mmmmm. Beverages were extra.

One negative - pastries were lacking - not like in other countries - only a bare minimum - but excellent oven baked breads of all varieties were to be had.


All accommodations as a solo were excellent-no broom closets and quite the contrary. Just needed better a/c - which they don't seem to covet as much as NA does.

Personal comments and observations:

The men and women are all a handsome bunch with towhead children everywhere.

Out public only the men push the baby carriages/strollers and tend to the walking tots, while the women walk solo nearby like a matriarch. The men are the child caregivers and do all the fussing over the tots, including feeding and discipline, managing clothing, toys and messy ice cream faces. It was so amazing to see the male parent so child dominant and genuinely being fatherly. Others on the tour commented on the same point as well.

There seems to be no poverty anywhere or run down areas. Beggars could be counted on one hand and only in Oslo at the harbor.

Graffiti was at a minimum and only in Norway.

Daylight. . .sun rose somewhere around 4 a.m. and it stayed light in some areas till 10PM! Bad for rooms without good blackout drapes and one's own body clock - discipline needed to call it a night. Of course in winter the sun doesn't come up until 11:00 a.m. and sets around 3:30 p.m. or so. Not sure how I'd deal with that, but it seems their suicide rates go up then.

All in all... a great trip to a fabulous region which is really under visited. I highly recommend Sweden (I liked the best) Denmark and Norway, (Finland is part of the Nordic countries and not Scandanavia - didn't seem to know that) and save every dollar you can in advance because the costs are extremely high and money goes like water...fast!

P.S. Gas = 13.05/litre or so, equating to $8.70 to $10.44/gal depending which countries you were in. Guess we have it good here at $4.65/gal just before I left.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Roxy,

Roxy: I don't know as much about Norway as I do about Denmark and Sweden. What I do know about those countries is that they're both administered by socialist systems. This, of course, means that taxes and prices are sky high but it also means that every citizen is guaranteed a certain standard of living. This is why you would not see much outright poverty in these nations. I believe that not only health care but education is "free" in both those countries. I put free in quotation marks because as I'm sure you found out this is financed by very high taxes. I'm no expert on this but somehow they seem to make it work better than anybody else in the free world. There's something to be said for this though I doubt very much whether North Americans would be willing to pay such a high percentage of their earnings into taxes.

Brenda

Brenda you are right. I had a summer job there eons ago, I was paid minimum wage and paid 30% in income tax, the locals said you very quickly reach 50% tax rate. I know a few years ago in Sweden people had to pay a small fee to see their Dr so not entirely "free" and you could also opt to pay for operations and they would be performed faster and with the Dr of your choice.

Roxy very interesting to hear your views, I find it hard to give my opinion as I am a bit biased having been born in Stockholm. I love Stockholm but I find it ordinary and not very exciting.
When I took the trip with Insight unfortunately our TD was not very well versed in Scandinavian history but she was a good TD.

Roxy ~ Thanks again for your observations, sounds like the Scandinavian life is somewhat different to the one you & I are familiar with.

My memory could be playing tricks on me but I think it is Finland, that on retirement the pension you earn is automatically 75% of your final average salary. Which of course encourages their citizens to work hard & earn well. IMO a far better system than the one we have in Australia, where if you provide for your latter years you do not qualify for any pension or entitlements. But spend all your $$'s or find a way to become 'entitled' to a pension & you are well looked after.

I understand their will always be ill or infirm & of course they should be well provided for. However I can't help but feel if there weren't so many scamming the system then those that deserve it could be even better looked after.

Roxy: Ahhh! This is taking me back to my pre-TTBB days when I used to use Prodigy and knew a lot of wonderful Danish techie friends. One of them told me that in Denmark, citizens can have as much education as they want. I bet they spend a lot less on prisons because no-one need feel disenfranchised. I have huge admiration for the Danes. Now you`re making me want to go there!
Tell us more...What was the highlight of your trip? What surprised you most? Any disappointments? Most exciting? Do you wish you had done it sooner? If cost were no obstacle, would you go back again? Frankly, how does the history compare with other places you have been? Is it as exciting? More, more, more, please!

Roxy,
You commented on the lack of pastries. We did have them in the Copenhagen hotel. Our TD told us to be sure to sample the true "Danish" there as we would not see much of it else where. I agree the breads--which I should have instead of sweet stuff anyway --were very nice.
When we were there in June we saw very little darkness. The sun was down just a short while even in the south and it never got dark. Inside the artic circle, we saw the midnight sun (almost). Just a bit short as the night we were at North Cape it was foggy. We did get up several nights earlier at 11:15pm to see the sun just dip below the horizon at midnight.

Over on the Insight Board, I am waiting for General Max (remember him) to return from his two Scandanavia trips--one Insight's Scenic Fiords and the other a cruise. He was supposed to have the same TD I had. She is Swedish.

Caitie,
Our TD was full of history facts and so were all the city guides. The whole area was controlled by various kings from different countries and changed ruling countries many times. There was also alot about the Vikings. (Don't mention Christopher Columbus to the Scandanavians.) I sure Roxy saw the Vasa--the ship built in the 1600 s and sank within 20 minutes on her first journey.
I also got a lot of history involving WW11. There was a lot of fighting in the northern fiords and countryside. There was a wonderful war museum in Narvic, Norway.
I loved the trip--always wanted to go. But I am not sure I would return--unless I win a trip or something like that. Not saying I saw anywhere near it all, but I got a good feel. It isn't like Italy where you want to return again and again. Not to me anyway--unless I run out of places to go.

Roxy,

Welcome home - so pleased that you had a good time. I was a bit concerned that you might not find things as you expected as a US friend of mine (well travelled) did a Scandinavian tour last year and came home most disappointed (with the exception of the fiord area).
Sounds like you had a blast!!
Now where are the pictures please??

Yes, their income taxes are now at 39% and all education, medical and senior care is covered. They also get some sort of allowance for each child, and if they need help with housing they apply to the "community" for a monetary arrangement. The people are well looked after...not sure how long it takes to get what they need though when it comes to medical care. As an aside, one Canadian guy was saying it took him 2 years to get his knee replaced back home!

Yes the viking history and the "trolls" (thought of the BB and those who have masqueraded in the past and wonered if they had those big long noses too! ) were talked about as well as the rivalry between Sweden and Norway. Funny the Norweigans almost gag when they see Swedish money!

It was said that Denmark was the most "affluent" or advanced, but didn't seem to feel that...perhaps one has to stay longer to get the feel as I always say - to short a time spent to get the real feel.

I, Like Suegreg would not return simply because my hit list has countries still waiting!

The weather seems change at the drop of a dime. We were in blue sky sunshine, went in for a visit it to a hydroelectric plant in the mountains (important in WWII) and came out an hour later to monsoon rains, which quits in about 20 minutes and then the sun returns - crazy. Almost seems tropical in its pattern-never trust a Scandanavian blue sky!

Suegreg- we did have some sweet stuff choices at the dinners, but at the breakfast buffets - nothing really-one only had cookies. . .but you could have plenty of herring, sardines, onions and sweet goat cheese! Also not a banana to be found except in the 7-Eleven stores (a USA chain convenience store) which also carried hot foods including bacon wrapped hotdogs to go. Those 7-Elevens really came in handy!

P.S. not a smoker on the bus - nice!

Roxy, your Canadian tour-mate neglected to tell you that people are taken in order of urgency. My neighbor needed both a new hip last year and this year a new shoulder and she was booked in both cases within a couple of months. We live in a small city and only have a couple of orthopedic surgeons. Our medical system is certainly not perfect but at least everyone gets care regardless of income or circumstances.

Brenda

quote:

Originally posted by BrendaC:
Our medical system is certainly not perfect but at least everyone gets care regardless of income or circumstances.

Brenda

Brenda ~ is it true that Canada's sin tax on items such as cigarettes and alcohol is used to finance its healthcare?

Dalene: I'm sure that's part of it, but the tax system is very complicated to me, and my complaint is that I'd like to see the open books . They (politicians) keep trying to tell us the health system is out of money but still it goes on year after year. It's a very important idea(l) in Canada, universal health care, and apparently, according to polls, an important aspect of Canadian self-identity. For example, in polls, Canadians have indicated that they rather give up almost anything else than universal health care.

The (mainly) mythology of people waiting years for this or that is something the media focuses on and of course, the U.S. media plays it up as a reason the U.S. shouldn't go this route. Of course, I also understand that if I feel I need a knee replacement I don't see why I should have to wait if I can pay for it--as some conservatives would have it--but to me, waiting in line so that some one needier (in terms of pain and health) can have one first is more the philosophy to which I think most of us subscribe.

Little example, before we in this city had a cardiac centre, my husband was sent to another city about an hour's drive. He was booked for a bypass within weeks of seeing the cardiologist and cardiac surgeon. Later, he needed stents in two other arteries; again, another city, an hour's drive the other side, but no waiting, and within weeks of the consult. Now, neither of these times was he facing death or emergency surgery, so sure, there are a couple of glitches in the system but no real problems the way people like to complain about. Doctors are doing the best they can, but they're not earning the kind of money they would earn elsewhere and we're lucky so many choose to stay. In the last ten years, my city has had the addition of an excellent cardiac facility as well as its own cancer centre. As you know these cost billions to build and equip.

Love, Brenda

Brenda ~ complicated indeed. So your healthcare is a public funded free of charge social service? I believe that there are many South African doctors working in Canada. Canadians on my tour complained that they have no bedside-manner.